Isle of Skye, An Dùn Baeg

 Sometimes things just work out.  Sandy and I rose early to catch the ferry leaving from the mainland of Scotland to the Isle of Skye.  We had received a notice from the ferry company that the ferry we were scheduled on was cancelled (due to Covid we later found out).  We were hoping to find a space on an earlier and smaller boat.  As we drove up we were informed that we could not get on the 9:20 ferry but if I could wait an hour and a half he would put us on the next one out, still a small ferry, but big enough to get us to the island.  We spent that hour in the nice little Scottish village of Mallaig.  Even better, our time was well spent in a postcard perfect tea house.  We had been on the road for an hour and half and had not yet had our first cup of coffee.  This place was exactly what we needed. A strong cup of black coffee and my first scone since arriving in Scotland.

Our view from the ferry as we were heading toward the Isle of Skye

The island of Skye is magnificent.  The weather is crisp but pleasant and today, at least, no rain.  Between Sandy and I, we must have taken several hundred pictures.  We could have taken more but that at times we were simply "in the moment" and not thinking of taking pictures at all.  I don't think I will ever be able to describe  what we saw or how we felt while viewing it, but enough to say that the glens, shorelines and mountains are beautiful, unique, and at times absolutely breathtaking.  We are so glad to have included Skye in these travels.

                                                                Heather

Highland Cattle

Talisker Distillery (closed on Sunday!)

An Dùn Baeg

Tonight we are staying at a Bed and Breakfast.  The Green Acres Guest House.  The host is a friendly redhead, and the house with its views over Loch Portree, is unbeatable.  

After driving over here for several days I thought perhaps this would be a good time to discuss their cars and their roads.  First thing first, they do drive on the wrong side of the road.  I don't know why they do it, they just do.  Honestly, it did not take me long to get used to everyone driving on the lefthand side.  I am disappointed, though, that they can't seem to get used to me driving on the right hand side.  As expected, the steering wheel is on the righthand side of the car.  The clutch, brake and accelerator are lined up as in the USA, but of course, the gear shift is on the left side.  Also the gears line up like American cars... first gear being in upper left working down then up and across as one shifts through the gears.  So instead of working through the gears away from the driver, I actually bring stick shift towards me.  Reverse is closest to the driver and down.  

Now look at these roads I am driving.  Two-way roads wide enough for only one car.  Sharing these roads with bicyclists, hikers, cars and sheep; and me shifting with my left hand!  What could possibly go wrong?

Rosslyn Chapel, Glencoe Valley

We started the day by taking the bus back to the airport where we picked up our rental car.  For the next 9 days we will be touring Scotland by auto.  Our end goal for the day was Fort William, but first we stopped by Rosslyn Chapel.  What an amazing place.  It was built by the St. Clair family, monarch of this particular glenn and also Orkney.  It was built in a gothic style and was meant as a place to both worship and be buried.  (No photographs allowed from inside)

It seems as though every square inch of it is covered by carvings of saints, pagans, masonic and templar symbols, and fruits and vegetables.  There are angels looking like Bigfoot, and maize and cactus plants that had not yet been seen in Europe.  All this made Rosslyn Chapel a pretty interesting place to visit for the first 200 years of its ruins, but since Tom Hanks figured out what all these symbols meant in The DaVinci Code, its mystery has only grown. The last scene of that movie was shot here.

We drove on to Fort William through the Glencoe Valley.  This is home to some of the most scenic country in Scotland and home to David Stirling, founder of Britain's first airborne commandos.  Sandy kept saying "I feel like I have been dropped into Glenbogle" ( a reference to our favorite BBC series, Monarch of the Glen). 

                                                Monument of David Stirling

Edinburgh, Gladstone's Land, Britannia, Literary Pub Crawl

This morning I had my first run at haggis while actually in Scotland.  It seemed to be about 50% some sort of meat and 50% oats (not oatmeal, just oats).  Not inedible, but also nothing I'll be looking to replicate back in Lancaster.  Another good thing about Scotland, and all of Great Britain is the ketchup (and brown sauce).  Back home I have been made to feel self-conscious about putting ketchup on my eggs.  I can't do that in public.  Over here it is almost impolite if you don't.

The haggis is at 10 o'clock on the plate in this picture

We walked up the Royal Mile to Gladstone's Land, a docented museum displaying artifacts of 17th century Edinburgh in the property of Thomas Gladstone.  A wealthy merchant and his wife lived and worked on the second floor, making fashionable dresses with imported material.  Edinburgh, being a very crowded city at the time, tended to build their narrow houses with shared exterior walls straight up.  Gladstone's was a six story building. Three of those stories are the museum now.  Incidentally, in Europe, the first story is the Ground story and the numbered floors start above that.  For example our room is five stories up, but since the ground floor doesn't count, our room number is 433.  It is for this exact reason that I have gotten to know the residents in room 333 so well.

A cloth merchant and tailor, this was his work room

Sandy trying on a period bonnet.  I think she rocks it!

A statue of David Hume, Scotland's principle enlightenment thinker and philosopher

David Hume's shiney toe, rubbed by clients and advocates for luck as they enter court

We took a double-deck bus to Edinburgh's port city, Leith, where Her Majesty's Royal Yacht, the Britannia is open to the public.  The yacht, now decommissioned, is the epitome of maritime luxury, restored to its original 1950s look. 

This Rolls Royce was hoisted aboard the yacht in the event of the need for ground transportation

Lunch, late in the afternoon was at the End of the World Pub.  I had a scotch egg, Sandy fish and chips.  I had another Scotch whisky (here in Scotland it is just called whisky - I'm working on it but some habits are hard to break) and Sandy has grown fond of their hard ciders.  The food was very good.  Amazingly, they put out around 400 plates a day from a kitchen about the size of a walk-in closet.  While we really liked this pub, it is dead center of the tourist attractions.  The tables on either side of us had diners from the United States and when they left the next table over was from Atlanta.  So while they are indeed serving very good food and drink it is not a place that you are going to be rubbing elbows with the locals.  Truth be told, though, no place on the Royal Mile is.

                                                              the kitchen

We finished the night with a literary pub tour.  Starting at the Beehive Inn, two actors, who have been doing this for twenty-five years, led us to several pubs while extolling and lampooning the writers of Scotland.  While I knew of the big three, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Lewis Stevenson, these actors took us through a litany of other Scottish writers.  It was a night of entertainment, laughter, and a little education.  It now makes me want to read and reread the works of these great authors.  

No one goes to Scotland for the pizza, but it was Friday night.  And, it was open late (the Literary Pub Tour Ended at 10pm), so o'Oliviero Pizzeria fit the bill.